San Francisco Voters Turn Down Tax Hike for High-paid Ceos
WHO:
Bloomberg - San Francisco voters
San Francisco Chronicle - Supporters of the Overpaid CEO Act, including unions representing city staff
San Francisco Chronicle - Mayor Daniel Lurie
San Francisco Chronicle - Rodney Fong, CEO of the Chamber of Commerce
San Francisco Chronicle - Scott Mann, spokesperson for the Yes on D campaign
WHAT:
Bloomberg - San Francisco voters rejected the Overpaid CEO Act, a union-backed ballot measure.
San Francisco Chronicle - Proposition D was rejected by 53.6% of voters.
San Francisco Chronicle - The measure was estimated to generate as much as $300 million per year.
San Francisco Chronicle - Big businesses and wealthy donors raised about $6.6 million to defeat the measure.
San Francisco Chronicle - Proposition C, a competing measure, failed with about 65.9% of the vote.
WHERE:
Bloomberg - San Francisco
San Francisco Chronicle - International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers 2015 Union Hall in San Francisco
WHY:
San Francisco Chronicle - The measure aimed to bolster funding for cash-strapped city services.
San Francisco Chronicle - Opponents warned that the measure could lead to higher prices or reduced presence of big companies in San Francisco.
San Francisco Chronicle - Supporters argued that the cuts following the measure's defeat would impact those who can least afford it.
HOW:
San Francisco Chronicle - The measure would have raised taxes on large companies with CEOs earning more than 100 times the median pay of their workers.
San Francisco Chronicle - The tax calculation would have been adjusted to include compensation of all employees, not just those in San Francisco.
(UPDATED June 9, 2026 17:45 UTC)
San Francisco voters have rejected the Overpaid CEO Act, a union-backed measure that aimed to generate up to $300 million annually for city services, with 53.6% of the electorate opposing it. The campaign to defeat the measure saw significant financial backing, with big businesses and wealthy donors contributing around $6.6 million, while a competing measure, Proposition C, also failed with about 65.9% of the vote. Supporters of the Overpaid CEO Act argued that the defeat would adversely affect those who can least afford it, as the measure sought to impose higher taxes on large companies with CEOs earning more than 100 times the median worker pay.